A Digital Breakdown of the Global Media Spends for 2014

With the internet penetration growing at exponential pace, the opportunities for brands to reach a wider audience are bigger than ever. An audience that was connected via only print or television say a few years ago, today is very much digital savvy and as a result the breakdown of media spends makes for an intersting reading. Even in a country like India, which is very much in the developing phase, a 20 or so percent internet penetration has changed the way various mediums are being used. While print and television remain popular, we are not far away from the time where digital will become the priority. While we can talk medium breakdown, and obviously stress the need of going digital, how about we focus on global media spends for once, numbers that largely are not spoken about.

Recently we came across the Global Media Intelligence Report which outlines the overall media spend in the world and the continental breakdown. Without taking away any credit from eMarketer who published the report, we wanted to share the same with our audience too. You can visit the site and look for similar data trends from eMarketer here

The Global Trend

Despite the report suggesting that the global media spend in 2014 is expected to be around $545.23 billion, a rise of 45.6% when compared to 2013, it is impossible to not take into consideration that the future forecasts will be heavily influenced by how the economies of important markets like North America, Asia Pacific and Western Europe will respond. So far, the optimism remains and the recovery from the major recession and economic crisis of late 2000s seems to be on track. However, given the developments or the lack of the same in region and with integrated media usage becoming a gradual trend, the 2014 to 2018 stat makes for an interesting read. While markets like Asia Pacific and Latin America, largely considered developing markets expected to increase their contribution to media spend, developed markets like Western Europe and North America are likely to see a decline. This provides us a good cue to look at the continental market scene individually.

Northern America

Largely dominated by the United States, Canada and Mexico, the Northern America market is perhaps the most digital savvy in the world. As a result, omni channel approach with focus on assorted platforms, locations as well as multiple screens is fairly common. In vehicle messaging, Television and Social Media integration as well as huge wearables uproar is expected to be the key new attributes when it comes to planning media spending in this region. The ad spend in the US alone is expected to hit $221.16 million point in 2018 as compared to $180 million in 2014.

Asia Pacific

After North America, Asia Pacific is the largest contributor to the media spends in the world. In 2014, Asia Pacific contributed to 27.9% of the global spends. Despite the fact that the region is largely made of developing countries with consumers showing sharp contrast between those that own several gadgets and are internet savvy when compared to North America, almost 65% of the residents of the residents will have a mobile device rising to 74% in four years. As a result channels like TV, radio and print remain popular in conjunction with digital. India is expected to contribute a billing of $5.79 million in 2014, rising to $8.12 million in 2018.

Western Europe

Given the economic struggles of the European countries in 2014, it is no surprise that the ad industry has suffered too. Despite the struggles, the financial muscle of the people in this region remains strong and after North America, remains the most digital savvy audience. Almost 47% of the audience owns a smartphone in the region and the tablet penetration in the region, especially in countries like France, Germany and Spain is among the highest in the world at 40%, with UK topping at 53%. There it is no surprise that some of the best consumer engagement programs in the region involve wide usage of mobile and connected devices. Countries like Germany, UK, France and Italy are expected to be the highest contributors in media spends, totalling at $28.64 million, $27.62 million, $16.04 million and $12.46 million in 2018.

Latin America

With the World Cup 2014, Latin America was inadvertently the hub of focus for several major brands trying to leverage all the eyes that the region attracted. With falling economies of major countries like Argentina and Brazil, this region has largely been playing catch up to the big three. Almost two thirds of the population will have at least one mobile phone by the end of 2014 and about 54% of the audience has an access to the internet once a month, out of which, 69% are active on Social Media. This is why this region is an interesting target for brands actively using Social Media for engagement. It is projected that in next four years, Latin America’s spend on media will rise from 7.3% overall to 8.4% making it one of the fastest growing markets in the space.

Central and Eastern Europe

Central and Eastern European nations largely depend upon the trade relations between themselves and Asian as well as Western European countries for economic well being. As a result, their well being is extremely important for them. With troubled times in countries like Ukraine and Russia due to political situation, it is understandable why the layover for large advertising spendings are curtailed here. Despite that, it is the financial power of Russians, and their ability to afford good branded products, that should see the ad spending leap almost 11.5% this year and reach about $15.24 million in 2018.

Middle East and Africa

Once again, the political and economic instabilities of MEA means that they fall well below the levels of Europe and America when it comes to internet penetration. While countries like UAE may be better off than the rest, large parts of middle east, the likes of Iraq and Africa counterbalance the numbers, giving only 24.5% of the residents access to the internet at least once a month. About 673 million people use mobiles in the region, and with more than 48% of the audience using smartphones to access the web, mobile campaigns for a well targeted audience are a key. It is expected that ad spendings will rise from $20.62 million in 2014 to about $25.35 million in 2018.

It is clear therefore that reading the media spend of any region must be in conjunction with the economical situation and the political stabilities. For someone looking for running a global media campaign though, it is data like this that helps divide the share.

We hope you found the article useful and we would like to give all the credit for the data points for the same to EMarketer and do not take ownership of the same.

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3 thoughts on “A Digital Breakdown of the Global Media Spends for 2014”

Extremely insightful read, and narrowing down regions, people, cultures to numbers. And that is why there is a lot to ponder.

Don’t you think specially after the frenzy of e-commerce giants in India and vibes about digital India and Internet.org the growth prediction of India are ordinary. Also, Asia pacific prediction of 2014- 27.9% to 2018 – 28.6% is totally unacceptable.

Which is why I tried to dig down deeper into eMarketer report summary which came out to be a puzzle in itself. Do comment.

Thanks for taking the time and reading through the post. As we have mentioned the facts and figures are from the Epaper published and not our original data and hence we will not be able to validate it. Although the numbers are definitely realistic keeping in mind the Asia Pacific region is massive enough and comprises of enough nations that do not have a deep media penetrations given the economical conditions, hence for every India or Japan, you are balanced by say a Nepal. Therefore, while the region remains important and growing, unfortunately it is not on the same page as the European nations and Americas of today.